For all who have sinned apart from the Law will also perish apart from the Law, and all who have sinned whilst living under the Law, will be judged by the Law.

It is not those that merely hear the Law read who are righteous in the sight of God, but it is those that obey the Law who will be pronounced righteous.

For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they, without having a Law, are a Law to themselves;

since they exhibit proof that a knowledge of the conduct which the Law requires is engraven on their hearts, while their consciences also bear witness to the Law, and their thoughts, as if in mutual discussion, accuse them or perhaps maintain their innocence--

And since you claim the name of Jew, and find rest and satisfaction in the Law, and make your boast in God,

and know the supreme will, and can test things that differ--being a man who receives instruction from the Law--

a schoolmaster for the dull and ignorant, a teacher of the young, because in the Law you possess an outline of real knowledge and an outline of the truth:

You who make your boast in the Law, do you offend against its commands and so dishonour God?

Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been circumcised counts for nothing.

In the same way if an uncircumcised man pays attention to the just requirements of the Law, shall not his lack of circumcision be overlooked, and,

although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker?

But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God.

For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.

But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it--

For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to Law.

Do we then by means of this faith abolish the Law? No, indeed; we give the Law a firmer footing.

Again, the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his posterity conditioned by Law, but by faith-righteousness.

For if it is the righteous through Law who are heirs, then faith is useless and the promise counts for nothing.

For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.

so that the promise should be made sure to all Abraham's true descendants; not merely to those who are righteous through the Law, but to those who are righteous through a faith like that of Abraham. Thus in the sight of God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and makes reference to things that do not exist, as though they did, Abraham is the forefather of all of us. As it is written, "I have appointed you to be the forefather of many nations."

Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for a simply just man, although for a good and lovable man perhaps some one, here and there, will have the courage even to lay down his life.

For prior to the Law sin was already in the world; only it is not entered in the account against us when no Law exists.

Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.

Now Law was brought in later on, so that transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace has overflowed;

For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of grace.

Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!

your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.

Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?

A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her.

So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God.

For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.

But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.

What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."

Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead.

Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died;

So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.

For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.

But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,

I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;

but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

for the Spirit's Law-- telling of Life in Christ Jesus--has set me free from the Law that deals only with sin and death.

For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature;

in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures.

Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so.

To them belongs recognition as God's sons, and they have His glorious Presence and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the Temple service, and the ancient Promises.

while the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a Law that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.

And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;

For as a means of righteousness Christ is the termination of Law to every believer.

Moses says that he whose actions conform to the righteousness required by the Law shall live by that righteousness.

Owe nothing to any one except mutual love; for he who loves his fellow man has satisfied the demands of Law.

Love avoids doing any wrong to one's fellow man, and is therefore complete obedience to Law.

The night is far advanced, and day is about to dawn. We must therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness, and clothe ourselves with the armour of Light.